Lions,Tigers, and Bears...........Oh my!

20 Benaiah was the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man from Kabzeel, who had done many deeds. He had killed two lion-like heroes of Moab. He also had gone down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day. And David appointed him over his guard. 2 Sam 23:20,23 (NKJV)

One of the books I am reading is In A Pit With A Lion on a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson. He uses the scripture above to define people that are lion chasers and then tells their stories. I hope I have raised my children to be lion chasers. Lion chasers are willing to take a chance. They realize that life is short and sometimes you have to risk it all to obtain the prize. Lion chasers win games, succeed in life, help others, and..........................plant churches.

This last week our son and daugher, Ryan and Amanda announced that they will become church planters this next fall. They are in Salsibury, Maryland. Ryan is serving as a youth minister at this time, but he has turned in his resignation. He will be starting a church. Is it a safe move? No; but it is needed.

When we talk about stewardship, most think that we are talking about our money. That is only one tiny part. We must be stewards of our imagination, our dreams, our talents, our energy, and even our humor. Stewardship is all-inclusive.

I am proud of our children who are lion chasers! Ryan and Amanda, we are proud of you and we will pray for you daily.

For more information you may go to terminalconfession.com

Happy Birthday! A Kindle!

My birthday is approaching, more quickly than I would like, but it is not this month. Chris can never tease me again about not being able to wait. Years ago I bought Chris a complete cookware set from Pampered Chef. They were delivered to me in October and I planned on giving the gift to Chris when we moved into our new home in January. That evening, Chris looked at me and said, "What's going on with you? You have a funny look on your face." I answered with a "poker face," "Don't move! I bought you something and I can't wait to give it to you!"

Saturday morning, we were in the kitchen preparing breakfast for the kids and I walked out to the porch. Chris asked me to stay right there because they had something for me. My "other" parents (you might call them in-laws) and Chris had bought me a Kindle 2. What is a Kindle? It is an electronic device that will wirelessly download books, hold over 1,500 books and magazines, and will read aloud to you, if you so desire. Wow - unlimited access to literally tons of reading material!

By noon, I had twelve books downloaded on my Kindle, including two versions of the Bible - and I was in heaven. Wow! I sat and read for hours. I have always loved to read, but with my new life, I have been reading even more. Doctor appointments, waiting rooms, chemotherapy treatments, VERY early mornings...........all of these are times that a book helps me keep my sanity.

Thank you, Chris, for knowing and loving me! Thank you, Dad & Mom-2 (Danny & Zora) for giving me a special treat. Gotta go, I have books to read!

Pushing The Monster Back In The Box

In November, I was diagnosed with cancer. I had surgery to remove the majority of the tumor. This was followed by five weeks of radiation and I just finished my third cycle of chemotherapy. This is the halfway mark for the chemo and I should finish on June 19th. After that, I do not know what is ahead. I will have scans and tests and we will make the decision for the next step in this battle.


In my real life, B.C. (before cancer), I was a math teacher/basketball coach. I am now trying to fight cancer and still fullfill these responsbilities. As a basketball coach, we have our own special language. My wife, Chris, is used to going on "scouting dates," discussing things like hedge, double, slam, open, baseline leg, flex, motion,.....................Yes, we seem to have our own language. I have learned that there is also a language spoken at the cancer center. I have had to learn it. Port, accessing the port, platelet counts, white blood cell count, red blood cell count, chemotherapy, radiation, myeloma, solitary plasmacytoma, stem cell transplant, bone marrow biopsy, etc... but the word we, as cancer patients, are all striving for is remission. Remission is defined as the reduction of a sentence or a temporary recovery.

This is what we cancer patients & survivors are all waiting to reach. We sit in our infusion contraptions receiving our chemo, and someone walks through the door. Although they are not quite treated like a "rockstar," they seem to have a celebrity status; they are family. As the person is introduced, (and they are always introduced) you are told, "This is _______, he/she has been in remission for the last ___ years/months." It's like a goal to reach, the prize at the end of the journey.

Why radiation? Why chemotherapy? We want to put the monster back in the box! It takes two years of clear tests and scans to be awarded the title of "in remission." Of all the titles I have obtained in my life, this is the title I covet. I want the monster.......................BACK IN THE BOX!!!!

A Cancer Patient, Contender, & Survivor....SMILE!

I have had many of you say to me that I do not talk about my struggle with this disease enough on my blog. I do want to keep everyone informed, but I have enjoyed using my writings as an outlet. I guess in a way it is still hard for me to realize that I have cancer. Yesterday Mrs. Jones, a fellow math teacher, called me to her room to hand me a Relay For Life form. In my mind, I was already thinking how neat it would be to walk and participate, and then I realized that the form was for a cancer survivor. Reality..................I have cancer!

Why cancer? Why me? Instead of training and running to raise funds for others, I am the person with the disease.

What are the struggles? Some mornings, simply getting out of bed. Some days, failing to smile at others when the pain is intense. Some evenings, letting Chris rub my hands and feet because of the neuropathy that numbs,burns and stings. Some mornings, waking up at 2:30 a.m. when sleep is not an option. Some days, the chemotherapy makes me sick and I ache. Even through these struggles, I want to SMILE!

Reality of cancer is everywhere, but I choose to ignore it. Life is a vapor, and I choose to smile. I will let my daughter, Callie, share her feelings about a poem, Smile, that she read for her English class. This is her paper explaining why she chose the poem, Smile.

Smile

When I first spotted this poem, the only reason I really enjoyed it is was because it was so short. But as I read it over and over in the day, the meaning began to crawl out. I relate the word sunshine in the poem to time. Nothing big or fancy, just simply, time. It's a word that doesn't scare me by its meaning, but by not getting enough of it. I always dwell on having 3 long and boring more years of high school, and then right after that, 4 or more years of college! But I'm not so sure anyone stops to think about how quickly time slips away, not just by getting older, but by nagging about all the time. It's ironic really when in all honesty, we should be celebrating the fact that we have more time with our best friends, we have more time with our favorite sports, or in this case, I have more time with my father who has cancer. Time is a scary thing that people continue to take for granted. For others, time may be replaced with a certain object or a certain someone, but my time has been replaced by a cancer. It's a cancer that has a mind of its own. It's a cancer that has a ticking clock that can go off at any moment. It's a cancer that has its own time. So this poem opened my eyes to smile while time still hangs delicately in the air. So I say smile while you still can, smile while American Idol booms from your speakers, smile while it's your birthday, and smile while your father still lives! Don't wake up wishing you would have smiled a little more than the day before.

Smile

Smile, my sunshine,

for I am smiling, too.

All the while

that I've got you,

smile, my sunshine,

Do.

Innocent Once

The List Blog

I had to keep (babysit) a class the other day, so I grabbed a few magazines from the library to peruse while I was sitting. One of the mags was Time, and it was the "list issue." Of course, my brain began to assemble some of my own lists and I thought .............I feel a BLOG!!!

These lists are for the last month and I reserve the right to change my mind. These lists are strictly the opinion of the author (Kevin Weaver) and do not reflect the opinion of any other person. No animals were harmed while writing this blog. Opps, I lied, I just kicked the cat off of my legs!

Top 5 Things Beside The Road While Running

1) Bungees (broken & not)

2) Bottles and cans

3) Cigarette butts

4) Diapers (yuck!)

5) License plates

Top 5 Books I Read Recently

1) They Like Jesus But Not The Church Dan Kimball

2) Scarpetta Patricia Cornwell

3) The Jesus of Suburbia Mike Erre

4) Lance Armstrong's War Daniel Coyle

5) About Myeloma Asad Bashley, MD,PhD

Top 5 Songs On My IPOD

1) I Will Rise Chris Tomlin

2) Caves Jack's Mannequin

3) Thankful Johnny Lang

4) Better Together Jack Johnson

5) Curbside Prophet Jason Mraz

Top 5 Foods Eaten In Our Kitchen Recently

1) Milkshake (Blue Bell- Moo-llenium Crunch & Non-Fat Milk!)

2) Oatmeal Cookies (Chris, I love you!)

3) Cilantro Crusted Tilapia

4) Mandarin Orange Spinach Salad

5) Chris' Meat Loaf

Top 5 Noises You Hear In The Morning At Our House

1) Coffee Pot Perking (It doesn't really percolate?!?)

2) Alarm clocks going off (Some for a long time!)

3) The shower upstairs.

4) Music upstairs, three different players in 3 rooms, all playing different music!!)

5) Shouts of "You have ___ minutes before it's time to leave!"

Top 5 TV Shows that are Weaver Tivoed

1) Lost

2) Fringe

3) 24

4) Grey's Anatomy

5) Diners, Drive-ins, & Dives

Top 5 Unused Biblical Names

1) Dodo (II Samuel 23:24-No matter how smart, the boy will never live down that name!)

2)Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz (Isaiah 8:3 - Boy would have to go by a nickname!)

3)Bukki (I Chronicles 6:51-Might be used if boy has large incisors!)

4)Hoglah (Joshua 17:3 - Only should be used if girl is a feeder of swine!)

5)Jezebel (I King 19:2 - No explanation necessary.)

To Be Continued.................................................................................

The Comfort Zone

Chris and I would like you to meet our new grandson, Rance D Weaver. He is the son of Ryan and Amanda, & the brother of Ryland Von. His middle name is D, with no period and no ee's. Even though he is in Maryland, you might notice that he is dreaming about Texas and the time he will spend with Pops and Lolly.

So what about his name? What is the big deal with names? By the way, the name Rance means "shield and defender." Names symbolize who we are and what we represent. There is nothing more special, nothing that will stop you more quickly in your tracks, than hearing someone say YOUR name. During our lives, we become comfortable, or get used to, hearing our names.

So, who are you?

We spend most of our lives answering this question. Our name represents who we are, but it is another journey entirely, to get comfortable and secure with who we really are.
At the end of Romans there is one verse that is simple, but profound.

22 I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle, greet you in the Lord. Romans 16:22 (NKJV)

I am astonished by this short, simple verse. Tetrius was the scribe for Paul in writing the book of Romans and he sends a "shout out" to other believers. This one verse is all we know of this man, but I sense that he is very secure in himself, as he sends out a short greeting to the church to which Paul was writing. So what prevents us from having this security?

I think that the biggest obstacle we have to overcome is "others." We worry about what others think of us and what we look like in the eyes of others. This concern can infiltrate all areas of our lives - our occupations, our vehicles, our houses, our clothes, and even our religion. We should focus on ourselves, who we are on the inside and who we believe ourselves to be, rather than being preoccupied with others' notions of us. There is another Bible story that helps us realize this truth. Jesus is with His disciples, after the resurrection, and he reveals to Peter how the twilight years of his life will be. Instead of standing there, amazed at what Jesus has just told him about his own future, he is immediately concerned about John's years ahead. Why?

21 Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, "But Lord, what about this man?" 22 Jesus said to him, "If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me." John 21:21-22(NKJV)

Jesus is saying, don't worry about others. Don't look around you! Be comfortable with yourself, secure in who you are and the life God has prepared for you. I wonder how many seconds, minutes, days, months, or even years I have wasted by worrying about others, what they think of me, or what their lives hold for them?

This day I choose, just to follow, with my eyes on Him!

There's An Elephant in the Room (Shorty's Sermon)

If you have read my blogs at all, I am sure you realize that I am a follower of Jesus Christ. You might not know, that I am not only the son of a Southern Baptist minister, but my grandfather was a minister, and now my oldest son, Ryan, is an ordained minister. It breaks my heart to tell you some troubling news. The church, as I know the church, is suffering and quite possibly dying. I do not want to bore you with the statistics, I want to ask you, if you attended a church growing up, to describe that church now. How many people between the ages of 21 and 35 attended this church? Use one word to describe the church of your childhood.

I love Jesus. I love the church. Change must happen if we want to connect to culture around us. I am reading an informative book, They Like Jesus, But Not The Church, by Dan Kimball. This man is a pastor, and one of the things he did was to get out of the church office. Now you must understand that his church allowed him to do this, but would you? He began to get his hair cut in a different area of town, prepare his sermons at the local coffee shop, and began to get out of the Christian bubble. As he talked to people, he found out that they respect and like Jesus, but they don't like the church.

So why am I calling this Shorty's sermon? We have an aerobic septic system and have a maintenance agreement. This last summer Shorty came out to work on our system. Chris and I visited with him and he shared how he was attending a cowboy church. We had a great conversation. Little did we know what the next few months would hold for either of us.

This past fall, I was diagnosed with cancer. During the same season, God called Shorty to start a church outside of Sulphur Springs. He started this church with 2 families. They now have 70-80 in attendance each Sunday. They have purchased an abandoned Methodist church building and he said that each Sunday he waits to see who will attend and what they will be wearing. He said he's even attended dressed in overalls to let the people know it's not what's on the outside that's important. His last sermon series was on refusing to judge the world around us, just to LOVE. I truly believe his heart matches Jesus' heart. People are drawn to Jesus.

As Shorty shared his story, Chris and I were captivated. I can't share everything he told us, but this part tells enough. According to Shorty, one Saturday night he was invited to a cookout and country singing. Of course, he said that most of the group was getting drunk, but he said he stayed anyway. He realized that some of the group didn't have tables at which to eat, so he said if someone would help him, he would get tables from his church. One of the men volunteered to go with him. Shorty said the man asked how he had keys to a church, to which Shorty replied, "I am the pastor." The man remarked, "If I ever went to a church, the ceiling would cave in!" When Shorty and his new friend arrived at the church, and the man got out with beer in hand. Shorty said that he turned around because the man had paused outside the door. He asked Shorty, "Aren't you going to tell me to leave this longneck outside?" Pastor Shorty replied, "That's between you and God." Needless to say, the man left his drink on the steps. This man and his family are the most recent new members at Cross Timber Cowboy Church. Shorty finished this account by adding, "His wife and kids are believers and strong, but God's Spirit will fix the man soon."

We must learn the lesson of allowing the Holy Spirit to convict. Our job is simply to love. We must reach out to the world around us, not hiding behind a tract or telling them to meet our pastor. Get to know people, connect to them and love them! Be to others what Jesus has been to you. On Sunday, we should gather and worship Jesus together as His body of believers. On Monday, we should head back to the world ready to love without judgement.

And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more." John 8:11 (NKJV)

11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" 12 When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 "But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' Matt 9:11-13